


(i knew) you were the only thing that mattered

by thecanary



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Canon Bisexual Character, Coming Out, F/F, First Dates, First Kiss, bi eleanor, lesbian tahani
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 13:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16517717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecanary/pseuds/thecanary
Summary: there was no one for me but youcmon theyre soulmates guys. tahani comes out to eleanor over sushi and they realise its a date





	(i knew) you were the only thing that mattered

"You're really something, you know that Eleanor?" Tahani asked, her voice crisp as ever, even with the look of awe and joy on her face.   
"Well, yeah man, I know it, but usually that only gets said to me in a bad way."  
"I can't imagine saying it, with reference to you that is, in anything but the best possible way."

Eleanor smiled, a cheesy one, impossible to hold back or pretend she was faking, and gently hit Tahani's arm. 

"You're too good. i mean, a rich British goddess, thinking I'm something, it means a lot."

Tahani pulled Eleanor in for a hug. They'd gone out for dinner, some chain sushi place, much lower standards than Tahani was used to but she would always settle for something for Eleanor's sake, she had discovered. Eleanor was someone like no one Tahani had known before, rude and rough and didn't really give a shit what people thought of her - at least that's what she claimed. In truth, as Tahani had learned over the months they'd spent together, first just in class, then at the meals they shared as a group, and later on, when they would go out, just the two of them, Eleanor cared a lot; she'd just found that the best way to enforce a 'chill vibe, man' was to act like she wasn't fussed either way. 

"I'm not really a goddess, I mean, I haven't even played one in a movie, unlike my friend -" Tahani cut herself off. "Never mind that, that's not what's important here. I have something to tell you."

Eleanor perked up - people telling her things, especially with that phrasing, usually meant that it was a secret, and people telling her secrets made her feel important. 

"Mhm," she said. "What is it?"

Tahani paused, and cleared her throat, clearly trying to make sure she kept composed. 

"I've been thinking a lot lately, now that I'm away from England and surrounded by new people, and I truly believe I'm more myself now," Tahani began. "And it's all well and good to think about self improvement and distancing yourself from negative influence, like I did in the monastery, interactions with people are just as important."

Eleanor wasn't sure if she was kidding herself or not when she wondered if this sounded like a coming out speech. 

(She wasn't.)

"Essentially, what I've come to realise is that a lot of relationships I've had in the past have been for anyone else's sake but my own. I was doing it to impress people, or to fit in, or to have someone to brag about, but I never really had a true emotional connection. Until I came to Australia."

"Oh?" 

"And met you."

"Oh."

Tahani tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as Eleanor leaned forward slightly, resting her head on a hand. Tahani opened her mouth to speak again but said nothing, pausing completely. 

"I suppose what I'm saying is that I hadn't really considered a relationship as something just for me until I met you. And now I've realised that even though I would never be able to brag about you to my sister or my parents, it doesn't really matter to me," Tahani explained. 

"Are you saying what I think you're saying? Because if you are, we're on the same page. Well, I mean, you would definitely be someone I'd brag about to anyone I possibly could but in general, you're brilliant, and that's that."

Tahani was beaming at this point, any anxieties and worries slipping away, along with any fear that Eleanor wouldn't reciprocate the feeling. Even though she was fairly sure Eleanor had been flirting with her since they had first met, she'd never been truly sure what had been serious and what had been for the joke factor of it, and what had just been Eleanor's outgoing personality. It seemed that it had been a combination of the three, in the best way possible. 

"If you think I'm about to ask if you're, well, if you're interested in women, then yes, you're right," Tahani said, nervous smile painting her face but not quite reaching her eyes. "And I'm also saying that I like you. Romantically speaking."  
"I'll drink to that, Tahani," Eleanor replied. "Fuckin' cheers all round."  
"So, I was wondering, if you would like to consider this a date?"  
"Does that mean I get to kiss you at the end of it?" 

Eleanor smiled cheekily, the corners of her mouth flicked up in such a way that it almost would have seemed smarmy, if her eyes hadn't been smiling just as much. The smile dropped after a moment however. 

"Wait, maybe I'll ask to kiss you later, I'm sure as beautiful or captivating as you think I am, you really wouldn't put up with sushi breath," Eleanor conceded. 

Tahani laughed and Eleanor was sure that that sound was what angels sounded like, joyful and at peace and sure, she was laughing at Eleanor, but Eleanor hardly cared. She rebutted it nonetheless. 

"Hey, you're fancy and cool and rich, excuse me if I can't picture you wanting to make out with the taste of dead raw fish."  
"Fair, that is fair. I agree with you one hundred percent, so perhaps we could find some chewing gum to solve that problem."

Eleanor laughed this time, nodding in agreement, packing away the soy sauce fish into the plastic sushi container to throw into the recycling - see the ethics classes were working ! - and doing the same for Tahani's. 

"Let's go then," Tahani said, rising to her 'giraffe-like' height, even more so thanks to the heels she was wearing. 

Eleanor smiled and took Tahani's hand in her own as they walked out, Eleanor managing to find a couple of sticks of gum at the bottom of her bag, so they chewed and talked. 

"So, you really had no idea before now, about the whole, being a little gay thing?" Eleanor asked.   
"Not really. It was always expected that I'd marry a man - an actor or artist, better than me but not as good as Kamilah, that sort of thing. Have you known for long?"  
"Since I was like, 14 or something. How could I watch Romeo and Juliet and not have a bit of a gay awakening over Claire Danes?"  
Tahani smiled and nodded. "I suppose whenever that happened to me I attributed it to jealousy."

And so it went on, a bit like this, back and forth talking until they reached Eleanor's hotel/apartment - it was closer enough to do so, and they'd agreed to call an uber for Tahani when she was ready to leave. It was also that Tahani had also offered to walk Eleanor home, and intended to follow through - it was the perfect combination of old fashioned and romantic for Eleanor to agree to it. When they got to her house they were both a bit tired, and Eleanor was in total awe of Tahani's ability to walk any distance in heels. 

"I don't have much at the moment in the way of, uh, food and drinks," Eleanor said, unlocking the door. "But can I offer you anything?"  
"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Though you could offer me that kiss?" 

 

Eleanor nodded, closing the door behind Tahani, before leaning up to kiss her. It wasn't perfect, their heights factoring into the awkwardness slightly, but Tahani had never felt like this before, like, she was kissing someone just because she wanted to, and Eleanor had never felt more right about who she was kissing. Both of them had sappy smiles on their faces as they pulled away and seemingly all at once they realised that this was it for them.


End file.
